Isabella the Mouse (Continuing story, Challenged by @simgirl)

_{Photo Source Pixabay}

My apologies to those following The Hunted Serialized suspense story. I was challenged to do this freewrite story and I must say that taking a break from murder and mayhem sounded like a nice relief! I'll be back with the next part of that story tomorrow and a full out weekend freewrite on Saturday.

Here are the beginning parts of the story of Isabella the Mouse:

• Part 1 by @freedomtowrite
• Part 2 by @snook
• Part 3 by @eroticabian
• Part 4 by @simgirl

Isabelle drug Max past one home at a time until she found him a safe place to hide. “Now all we need to do is gather you nesting materials...”

_{Photo Source Pixabay}

Isabelle and her friends were nothing if not resourceful. They gathered up all sorts of goodies that they found around the neighborhood. Careful to avoid the monsters, of course, they always moved around after dark.

_{Photo Source Pixabay}

When they were done, Max was absolutely flabbergasted! They had taken this little hole in the wall and turned it into a real home! There was a beautiful pincushion bed, shaped like his favorite food, a tomato. There were end tables made from dice. He even had a wonderful painting hanging on the wall that someone had found made of fabric. Isabelle had found several matching 40% off tags and another mouse had created matching drapes from them. The bright turquoise color of the tags set off the other mishmash of colors, pulling it all together for a nice cohesive look. Max was in awe! It was the most beautiful house he'd ever had!

_{Photo Source Pixabay}

Max plopped down on one of the bright pink dollhouse chairs that the other mice had found, "Phew! This was an awful lot of work, but it is so worth it."

Isabelle rolled her eyes. How like Max to take credit for any of the work, when all he did was crouch in the corner, shaking in his boots!

"Now Max, here is the next part of our plan. Our plan to ensure the safety of our entire community for the long term. You have a very essential role in this plan, Max. Your ability to take risks and be brave is the core part of the plan." She took Max by the shoulders, "It is VERY important that you listen very carefully, Max. We can't go off half cocked here. Are you ready? Will you work for the good of our entire community???"

She was being SO intense, Max didn't really feel like he had much choice. He didn't even quite know what he was agreeing to, but he shook his head 'yes' while his quavering little voice squeaked out, "Yes... ma'am!"

"Okay then. Max, here is what you need to do first..."

In the grand tradition of tagging the next writer, I tag @kimberlylane to write the next installment.

This is my entry for the @freewritehouse Selfie Contest! I'm challenging myself to do a freewrite every single day for 50 days in a row. (Yikes!)

Today's prompt was '40% Off'

_{Click the graphic to join the fun}

art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics

And if you're in the mood for something entirely different:

I've got two choices for you. Humor or suspense!

Funny Letters from a Boat Cat

Contemporary Suspense Story: The Hunted

My name is Natalie. This is my story. It all started months ago when I thought I was being stalked. I was positive. I had the deep down knowledge that something was terribly wrong. I took every precaution and soon started feeling like the threat was over. My friends from work were relieved to see me getting back to normal and we planned a girl’s night out. We were all out having a blast that night. Drinking, partying, dancing, doing all those things that people like to do to get away from it all. Letting my guard down was the worst thing I could have done and because of it, my best friend was murdered. Now I was in a haze of chaos and grief tinged with guilt as the investigation finally gets started.

Nothing like a murder to get the police to take you seriously. Officer Franks (Mark) is one of the detectives on my case and he's the one making sure that I'm home safe. He promised me that he is going to make sure this gets solved and for some reason, I believe him. There are some sparks flying between us, but this is definitely not the time to explore that.

_{Photos are mine except where they are credited to their source under the photos}.